1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to network technology. More particularly, the present invention relates to enhancing security for devices that are sharing content on a network, e.g., a home network.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary home network 105. As used herein, a “home network” refers to any private network, including but not limited to a private network controlled by an individual, a family, a business, a public entity, etc. However, the paradigm case of a home network is literally a network in a home.
Home network 105 includes device 110 (a camera in this example) and personal computer 115, both of which are connected to Internet 120 via gateway 125 and modem 130. Here, gateway 125 is a network device with network address translation (“NAT”) and firewall capabilities that can hide the home network behind a single IP address. Many cable or DSL service providers use dynamically assigned IP addresses. Therefore, the IP address assigned to network 105 will change over time.
The present assignee provides various applications and devices for home networks, including those necessary to allow web hosting from a home network. One such application provides dynamic domain name server (“DDNS”) functionality, which allows web hosting through a single domain name even when the IP address assigned to the home network keeps changing.
In order to set up DDNS, a device (e.g., camera 110) from home network 105 must communicate sensitive information to a third party (e.g. server 135) via Internet 120. Such information may include, for example, a username, a password and billing information. It is not acceptable to transmit this information in a non-secure format (“in the clear”) over Internet 120. Unfortunately, camera 110 may not have the ability to use a secure protocol such as HTTPS.
It would also be desirable to provide methods and devices for securely transmitting sensitive information over the Internet to and from a device in a home network, even if the device does not support a secure protocol such as HTTPS.